OVERVIEW OF THE IMPACT OF MINING ON THE ... - IIED pubs

4.9.1.3 Pedology, agriculture and land use
Soils in the sub-catchment can be divided into four groups:
• Moderately shallow, coarse-grained kaolinitic sands, derived from the granites;
• Very shallow to moderately shallow sandy loams, formed from gneisses and Karoo sediments;
• Very shallow to moderately shallow clays, formed from the Greenstone Belts; and
• Very shallow sands, derived from the basalts (DRSS, 1979).
The Masase area in the far north is in Natural Region IV, with low (under 650mm) and unreliable rainfall, and
poor soils. The remainder of the sub-catchment is in Region V, with poor soils, rainfall under 600mm and in
places under 450mm (ZSG, 1997).
Land use is mainly commercial farming, private and resettlement land (ZSG, 1998), mainly livestock rearing with
some drought resistant crops. The far south is Communal Lands, and agriculture limited mainly to livestock,
especially goats.
4.9.1.4 Surface water users
Commercial agriculture is a major water user, including drawing water from Ripple Creek dam.
Water is pumped from the Limpopo near Crook’s Corner to the border post at Sango – Chicualacuala, some
50km to the northeast.
4.9.1.5 Water management systems
The sub-catchment falls under the Mzingwane Catchment Council of ZINWA.
4.9.1.6 Human impacts of water resources (excluding mining)
The following could be expected to have an impact on water resources:
• Non-point domestic effluent, rural areas;
• Minor non-point impact from non-intensive commercial or subsistence agriculture; and
• Fuel loss and litter on the Masvingo – Beitbridge road and railway link.
4.9.2 Mining and mineral processing operations
The catchment falls mainly under the Masvingo Mining District (ZGS, 1995). A small quantity of magnesite was
produced from Freedom Mine on the southern end of the Great Dyke, up until 1943. Otherwise, mineral
resources, such as coal, in the sub-catchment have not been exploited.
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